Lions Den has ESP

Earlier this week, I posted about the quarterback situation and how the decision process has been made easier, so to speak, by the ineligibility of Paul Jones.

I didn't talk at all about Newsome in that process, because . .

. . . I ALREADY THOUGHT HE HAD LEFT.

Naturally, I was a bit surprised when the articles and rumors came out that Newsome is leaving.

At first, I was a bit embarrassed that I hadn't recalled the situation correctly.  Certainly, there had been rumors, at the end of last season, and Newsome did not even travel to the bowl game.  But he DID return for the spring semester and did participate in the Blue-Wet game.

Maybe I'm psychotic psychic.

But the premise of my article stands.  The starting position is now a two-horse race.  If Jones is academically ineligible, then the third-string position will fall to one of two walk-ons:  Shane McGregor and Garret Venuto.

If you consider that Matt McGloin was a former walk-on, then 75% of our potential quarterbacks were/are walk-ons.

How did that happen?

Who's in charge of quarterbacks?

Notice my accusation question is about who is handling quarterbacks, not who is recruiting them.  Paul Jones was highly sought after.  So was Newsome.  So was Bolden.  OK, maybe they weren't being recruited by Miami or USC, but we weren't fighting Temple or Ball State to get them either. 

The problem does not appear to be recruiting them; it appears to be development and retention, although even I can't blame the academic status of Jones on the staff, unless they were remiss on following up on his grades and allowing the situation to get to the point of ineligibility before something could have been done with tutoring, etc.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see that the successes of Michael Robinson and Daryll Clark were due to the ability of the PSU staff to develop their talents.  When you look more closely, you see that Michael Robinson was misused for 3 years before finally getting the starting job.  Daryll Clark seemed to regress a bit his second year, but an injury (concussion) may have something to do with that.

Instead, I think those two "success" stories succeeded in spite of the system.

Don't forget that the Devlin transfer also occurred during this period.

This is no longer an isolated event.  It is a pattern.  And for Penn State fans, it is becoming a problem.  We are a bad grade and a couple of injuries away from disaster.  Maybe that can be said about most college football teams, but Penn State isn't like most college teams.  The most important position on the field shouldn't be resting on a walk-on when the Big Ten Championship could--NO, SHOULD--be on the line.